Bart's Knife
by KJay99
Summary: Just a normal case- ah who am I kidding? The Warehouse isn't normal!
1. Briefing

**Hello all.**

**Chapter releases out every Friday (if possible). I'll try to stick to that schedule as much as possible.**

**This has changed. Let me know if you really want twice weekly updates, and I'll put Tuesdays back on the updates.**

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><p>A charming colonial building painted in cheerful colors sat back from the road in an unincorporated city and county of South Dakota. At the meal table of Leena's Bed and Breakfast, sat a competent looking brunette woman with competent green eyes. Myka sat taking meticulous notes in a writing book. Her brow furrowed as she concentrated. She crossed out a line she just wrote and tapped the end of her pencil in thought then started writing again.<p>

Myka knew that she had good ideas. She always had. While protecting the president she was awarded accommodations and rapid promotions. However since joining the Warehouse 13 branch of the Secret Service she seemed to be unable to rise to the elite agent status that she usually was able to maintain. It wasn't that she needed to be better than anyone, but she always strived for that status as a way of validation for herself. She tapped her pencil and thought back to a few missions that could have gone smoother. She knew she could be better, make things work better, more smoothly, if she could get a few things changed.

A whirlwind in the form of Myka's boss breezed through the doorway. A portly, graying man in earth colored layers, messy curly hair and too small, round glasses burst in the room loaded up with briefing folders and his messenger bag. He glanced around quickly. "Where's Pete?" he said looking for her partner.

Myka looked up a bit surprised at the chaos of her boss entering. "Uhm. He's here… somewhere." She looked down at her notes. Myka sighed and gathered her courage. "Artie? Can I talk to you about some ideas that I've had?"

Artie threw his armload of stuff on the table and took off his clip on sunglasses. "Hu? Sure." He glanced up at her quickly. "Ideas? About what?" He never stopped his constant motion as he started sorting the files.

Myka tried to not show the nervousness that was starting to gnaw at her. "Oh… about some of the artifacts that we've encountered." Artie's bushy eyebrows went up. Now that she started Myka knew that she had to finish. She took a breath and spurted out, "I think that with a few tweaks we can be better equipped to handle some of the things that we face…. uh- in the field…." She held her breath a little bit for his reaction.

Artie froze, looking at his papers. He automatically barked out his standard Claudia retort without looking up. "**There ****will ****be ****no**** '****tweaking!**'" He had just had to pry the spectrometer out of his young tech's curious hands because she was trying to 'tweak' it.

Myka flinched at his harshness and heard him mumble something that sounded like Claudia's name under his breath before rounded on her.

Artie rubbed his brow in frustration at the disregard for all the hard fought things that his agents already had. "Warehouse policies and equipment have been around for a _hundred __years_ and you want to change it all!"Changing things meant that they didn't appreciate their equipment and procedures and, by extension, him.

His speech started slow and got faster and louder as he went. "I was '_in __the __field__'_ for many, **many** years! Everything that you need you already have!" Myka tried to reply but he cut her off. "That equipment is time tested!" he spat out.

Myka bristled at how he said "in the field" with such contempt. She countered, "But a few things…" Artie harrumphed. She was not used to her ideas being dismissed so quickly. Myka pressed the issue, talking quickly before he could shut her down. "Like a small container of goo instead of the big one. Or… or look! I was thinking of infusing the first aid supplies with neutralizer." She tried to show him her notes.

"What?" he barked at her. "Neutralizer can be dangerous! There's a _reason_ why we don't just drape _everything_ with it!"

Myka responded, "You almost drowned Pete and me in that stuff!"

"That was an emergency!" Artie was practically yelling by then. He was in one of his frazzled states and he knew it. The senior agent took a breath to try to calm down. He pushed his glasses further up on his nose and rubbed his brow with two quick movements that made his eyebrows stand up even more than before. "Besides, one neutralizer shower is practically harmless. Two, you might want to see a doctor."

Myka's face morphed into a concerned stare at her boss. She opened her mouth to restate her point, but Artie cut her off. Lowering his tone, he said, "Stick to what you have. Make it work." Artie bit off the statement, obviously ending the conversation.

Feeling herself dismissed, Myka shut her half opened mouth and then her book in frustration.

The easy flowing purveyor of the Bed and Breakfast walked in with fresh coffee, followed by a red headed teen with a streak of dark violet in her bangs. Leena refilled Myka's cup and frowned. She could read the dark spots in Myka's aura, but Myka seemed to be ok, just highly annoyed, so Leena let it go.

Artie's aura was swirling madly, a product that Leena knew was from him dealing with too much at one time. She brought a mug for Artie and set it down in front of him but set it far enough away so that he wouldn't knock it over. He smiled a split second of thanks. Artie did a double take when he caught Leena calmly looking pointedly at him. He knew that look and what it meant from her. The senior agent dismissed her critique with a small huff and a scowl that only she noticed. Leena moved on with the coffee, but she saw that a few seconds later, Artie took her advice. He gripped the edge of the table, closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. Leena watched his aura slow and become less dizzying. She showed her approval with a sly half smile in his direction.

Leena offered some coffee to Claudia who characteristically rejected it with distaste.

"Oil Sludge? No thanks!" the teen settled in next to Myka placing her bag and Farnsworth on the table.

Pete swooped in the room behind Claudia and reached out to grab her Farnsworth. Claudia noticed just in time and saved her Farnsworth from his grasp. "Ha ha! No go slow mo!" she taunted.

Pete squinted at her and pointed. "You have to sleep sometime!" He grabbed a pastry on the table and fell in a seat.

"Ok ok! Settle down!" Artie shot looks around the table at his varied crew. "We have a case." He threw case folders at Pete and Myka and opened one to share with Claudia. "Martinique." He said.

Pete said "Who?"

Artie shuffled through papers and said without looking up. "A French territory in the Caribbean."

Pete's eyebrows shot up in excitement. He looked at Myka who returned his smile. He mouthed "Oh baby!" She couldn't help but laugh a little at him.

Artie retrieved the paper he was looking for. He held up a large photo of a sandy haired middle aged man. "Craig Daniels. Captain Craig Daniels"

Myka didn't think windblown hair style in the photo portrayed a military background. She said "Captain?"

"Yes." Artie clarified as they flipped through the case file. "He runs a boat down in Martinique. Does tourist season there every year, divers, snorkelers ect. Shows them the sea life. He specializes in wrecks. In his down time, he's a part time treasure hunter. Day before yesterday he jumped off of a bridge." He paused looking down, then continued "The part that got my attention is…"

"Treasure! Right? What did he find? Davie Jones' locker?" he snickered only half hoping he was wrong.

Artie responded automatically. "No no.. we're still looking for that. But Daniels here-" he pointed to the picture on the table for emphasis. " He's a family man. Married for 12 years, 2 kids and a dog. No record, no prior trouble. He's considered a pillar of the community in both Martinique and Palm Beach. There's newspaper articles on him… um page… 5." Myka flipped a page. "Yes there." He sighed and sat down. "For _this_ guy to suddenly jump off a bridge?" Artie humphed in emphasis. "Something is up." He nodded at his agents.

Myka and Pete perused through the files. Claudia flipped some pages just to look like she was doing something useful. Myka noticed travel history for Captain Daniels. He was usually in Florida by this time of year. She said "He lives in Palm Beach? Or Martinique?"

Artie replied "Half and half." He handed them each a round trip plane ticket. "Here's your tickets to Palm Beach, Florida."

"What!" Pete cried.

Artie was confused. He looked at his agents and said, "The artifact isn't in customs. I already checked. Also, the Martinique authorities haven't confiscated anything from the wreck that could be an artifact. Daniel's off season office is in Palm Beach. He returned there four days ago with his crew. Anything that he might have discovered should be there. "

"Aww…" Pete grudgingly looked at his ticket.

"'Aw' what? I never said that you were going to Martinique." He looked at Claudia "Did I say they were going to Martinique?" Claudia shook her head. Artie sighed and rubbed his brow to refocus.

"So- ok pack light. Find out what made this guy jump off a causeway in the middle of the night. The doctor on duty at the hospital said that he's expecting to release this guy tomorrow. Your plane leaves in two hours." He started shoving papers back into his bag when he noticed that Pete and Myka were still considering the files.

"_GO!__" _

Everyone, including Claudia jumped up from the table. Pete and Myka scrambled upstairs.


	2. Investigating Methods

**Thanks for the many alerts and favorites! I'm flattered. :)**

**And to Jimmy 144, DevonDark13, and star jelly, thanks for the reviews! Glad I can amuse.**

**Now, as promised-**

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><p>Pete and Myka were soon walking down a humid block in south Florida. Pete had sweat rings staring under his arms.<p>

"Geeze! How do they deal with this heat!" he said. He looked sideways at Myka. "And what is with your hair?"

Myka pouted and tried again to tame her mop of hair. "It's the humidity! It gets poofy!"

Pete made a face as Myka pulled out a hair tie and wrestled her hair into it. "Poofy?"

Frustrated Myka pulled her hair straight back and wrapped it into itself that resulted in a messy bun.

"Yes poofy! It fritzed out as soon as we landed." she huffed.

Pete said, "You look like my old librarian. Mrs. Limrick." He shuddered at the bad memories.

"Really? I'm impressed that you found the library at all." She was only half joking. He laughed sarcastically.

Myka got back to business. "Well the sooner that we find this artifact, if there is one, the sooner we can get out of here." They both turned into the main entrance of a hospital.

Myka approached the front desk. "Hello. We're with the secret service." She flashed her badge. "We're looking for a patient by the name of Craig Daniels. Can you tell us what room he's in?" The lead receptionist straightened up at the badge and glanced at the two agents.

"Oh! Well of course." She typed on her computer for a few seconds. "Daniels? He's been released."

Myka said "He has?"

Pete chimed in "When?"

The receptionist punched another button then said, "This morning."

Myka thought a second then added, "Who was the attending physician?"

The nurse started looking a tad edgy, but she referenced her computer screen and said, "Um. Doctor Taylor."

Myka pressed, "Is Doctor Taylor here? We'd like to speak with him."

"Of course, I'll page him." The receptionist eyed Pete and Myka sideways as she dialed the phone. A second later her voice came over the loudspeaker requesting Dr. Taylor to report to the front desk.

Pete looked at Myka and pressed his lips. _She always goes straight for the badge, no finesse._ He knew that he would have had that secretary talking inside of 5 minutes and gotten more information from her. _Probably her number too_.

"What?" Myka picked up on her partner's disapproval.

"Nothing!" Pete tried to look innocent. "Its just that you always jump to your badge. You can get a lot more out of people if you know… use a little charm. You should try it."

"Charm." _First Artie now Pete!_ She thought. "Now you have a problem with how I do my job?"

"What? No! I'm just saying… try- I don't know… _smiling_." Pete noticed that Myka seemed to be even more high strung than usual lately.

Myka opened her mouth to counter, but just then Doctor Taylor reported to the front desk.

A tall African American stuck out his hand to them. "Hello I'm Dr. Taylor. I understand that you wanted to speak with me about a patient?"

Pete took the lead this time. "Hi Dr. Taylor. Agent Lattimer, this is Agent Bering." They each shook his hand and showed their identification. "Yeah- we're looking for Craig Daniels. Did you treat him?"

Dr. Taylor said "Yes I did. But you missed him. I released him this morning." He saw the annoyance coming from the agents, so he added. "There was no reason for me to keep him."

Myka said "Was he under a suicide watch?"

"Yes he was. But the psychologist gave him a clean bill of health." The doctor added, "I spoke to him myself. He was not suicidal."

"Then why did he jump off of the bridge?" she waited for his reply.

"I don't know. Stress? Perhaps a marital problem? There doesn't seem to be a reason for what he did. We ran a battery of test on him too. All of his results were normal." The doctor paused. "He did have a broken hand and a twisted knee, a few bumps and scrapes from the fall. We kept him for the mandatory 48 hours after an attempted suicide and released him."

Pete grabbed on his words. "So you think that it was a suicide attempt?"

The doctor replied, "If it was, it was a poor one."

Myka said "How do you mean?"

"The rescue crew told me that he jumped right in the middle of the intracostal where the water is the deepest." The doctor looked pointedly at Myka and Pete. "Mr. Daniels is a diver, a good swimmer. If he was serious, I think that he would have done something _other_ than jumping into water."

"So you _don't_ think this was a suicide then?" Pete restated.

Dr. Taylor signed. "Sometimes people do dramatic things because of other events. All I'm saying is that there may be something _else_ going on with Mr. Daniels."

Pete and Myka looked at each other with suspicion that they knew what the "_else_" was.

Myka said, "Do you know where Daniels was before the bridge?"

"No." He referenced Daniels' medical file. "The police picked him up after being reported by a couple of boaters. No word as to his where abouts before that. But I'm sure you can ask him yourself. His wife picked him up a few hours ago. I think that you'll find them at their home."

Myka glanced at Pete to make sure that he didn't have any more questions then said, "Thank you for your time Dr. Taylor."

"I hope that I helped." He replied. All three shook hands.

Myka turned to leave, but Pete had a better idea. He slid over to the front desk to try his luck on the receptionist there. Myka noticed that Pete wasn't following her and stopped. When she saw Pete flirting with the receptionist she huffed and stomped her foot in annoyance. She counted to 10. After that, she turned the corner to get out of the direct line of sight of the receptionist. She could at least try to not totally kill Pete's chances by hanging around.

Myka leaned against the wall. She was half way through her mental review of the case when Pete popped his head around the corner.

"Oh hey." He tried to be casual.

Myka just tilted her head at him and raised her eyebrows.

"What? I was investigating!" Pete replied defensively.

"Investigating what?" Myka prodded teasingly.

"The case!" Pete's voice went up an octave. "And… turns out that Lindsey…" Myka blew out air and rolled her eyes. "has a cousin who works with our Captain Daniels!"

At that Myka's eyebrows went up. Pete mimicked her and shot his up too. "Ahhh!" he said feeling vindicated. He continued, "And she says that the night that Daniels went kamikaze off the bridge, they were all at Benchwarmers bar by the intercoastal."

"Ahhh!" Myka mimicked Pete mimicking her. She totally changed her attitude and accentuated it by punching Pete's shoulder.

"Uh hu…. All "Pete charm" on that one!" he grinned widely.

Myka agreed with him for once and mirrored his grin on victory. "Nice!" They both turned and walked down the hallway.

As they walked she had a thought. "Get her number?"

"You know it."


	3. Benchwarmers

**Thanks to those who reviewed, Jimmy 144-of course! star jelly- thanks for telling me your favorite parts! I'll try to do more stuff like that. And 13tash07, thanks! Looks like everyone is enjoying this so far.**

**And as promised- Chapter 3! Let's see if our pair of investigators can get anywhere. Special thanks to Lynnutte who insisted that there needed to be more investigation in - well the investigation.**

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><p>Benchwarmers Bar and grill was dimly lit even though it was early afternoon. A ray of light from the strong south Florida sun pierced into the bar as Pete opened the door for Myka. The agents hesitated by the door to allow their eyes to adjust to the lower light level.<p>

The bar was sparsely populated this early in the afternoon. The few bar patrons glanced curiously at the new arrivals. "Grab a seat anywhere." The agents were surprised by an older, unattractive waitress collecting dirty glasses from a corner table.

Pete led Myka who looked like she really didn't want to go further into the establishment. They walked up to the bar but didn't sit down. The two agents each took a quick evaluation of the place and people within.

The bar keeper delivered a drink to a man down the bar and stood in front of the two agents. His shirt was opened a button too much for Myka's taste showing his hairy chest that was the same color as his unshaven face. The bar tender checked out the suits and spread his thick forearms wide on the bar. "What can I get you?"

"Information." Pete said. The bartenders' eyes narrowed involuntarily.

Myka jumped in. "Just a little bit. About what happened to Craig Daniels the other night."

The bar tender nodded but looked at the two newcomers with caution. "And what's it to you?"

"Listen we're trying to help." Pete said, "He has a family." At that the bartender hesitated.

Myka seized on his moment of weakness. "Was he here that night?"

"Yeah, the whole crew was. End of season party."

"Was he acting strangely at all before he left?"

"Yeah. He actually started a fight! With his own crew!" he tender replied.

Pete tried to get a better grip on the personality of Daniels. Judging from the looks of the bar, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that bar fights were a regular thing in here. Remembering the personnel files he asked, "Was unusual for Daniels?"

"Daniels is the one who usually stops the fights!"

Myka said, "So what happened?"

"I dunno. The dude just snapped. He took a poke at Big Jim. They've been friends for years! I had to throw him out!" the man shook his head in disbelief.

"What do you think happened?" asked Pete.

The bar tender looked down and started to busy himself with some glasses. "Aw... I don't know."

"I do."

Myka and Pete looked down the bar to face the man who spoke. A young black man was looking into his plate of fries.

Pete glanced at Myka and took a step forward. "You know what happened to Craig Daniels?"

The dark man didn't look up. "He was cursed. We all were."

The bar tender rolled his eyes but something in his demeanor told the agents that he didn't fully discount the theory.

Myka said, "Cursed by what?"

"What we took." The man finally looked at the agent. Pete was surprised that he looked younger than he sounded. He could have been anywhere from 19 to 40. Myka pegged his accent as French, but muddled with something else.

"What did you take?" Pete asked.

The man's voice picked up emotion as it rolled up and down in pitch. "We took peace from the resting place of the wreck and we are cursed by it."

The bar tender huffed in disbelief. The man slapped the bar loudly and nearly screamed in response. "**You** were not there! I was!"

Pete immediately tried to relieve the tension. "Easy man! _We_ believe you." The black man scowled at the bar tender but looked to the agents. "Just tell us what happened." The man hesitated.

"Capt D found a new wreck. After we pulled up the last of the salvage, we were cursed."

"What do you mean by cursed?" Myka started cataloguing

"It reached into my soul and found what I hated."

"Just you?"

"No- all of us on the boat that day. Everyone was cursed. We all felt it."

Pete adjusted his stance. The man spoke in riddles and it annoyed him.

"Why do you say that you are cursed?" he said.

"There are things that we cannot explain in the day light." The man shuddered. He would normally not be speaking like this to those who weren't from his island. They just wouldn't understand, but this couple seemed to be listening to him with such interest that he thought that they did believe him. "Everyone felt it."

Myka decided to try to steer the conversation. "What was it that cursed you?"

The man shrugged. He replied like the details were boring to him. "The men from the wreck, they were murdered. The mast was broken and a hole in the bow." The bar tender glanced up at the conversation but continued stocking his bar. The French man shrugged to show his uncertainty but he made a guess. "Pirates."

Myka pressed, "But what did you pull up from the wreck?"

"Salvage, to idnetify the wreck. I would not have stood by if we disturbed the resting place of the sailors, nor would Captain D." the man noticed the agents shaking their heads so he continued. "Things that survived can help us name the boat. We recovered mostly pottery, metal plates, ammunitions." He looked hard at the couple. He knew from their look that they weren't treasure hunters. Their lack of sun tans meant that they likely weren't from the local area or customs officials either. "We did take some gold."

Pete and Myka perked up. Now pirate gold had "artifact" written all over it. Pete tried to hide his excitement as he encouraged the man to continue. "Gold? Gold what?"

"Just some coins." The man eluded. "Hardly enough pay to fill our tanks."

Pete pressed his lips together in frustration. He was hoping that the crew would know what was affecting them. It would certainly make their job a lot easier.

Myka had a thought and asked, "The things that you found? Where are they now?"

"The ones that customs released would be with Captain D. He keeps the finds until he can sell them."

That was all that Pete and Myka needed to hear. Myka looked at Pete. Their glance told each other that they were both done with questions. Pete reached into his jacket pocket and drew out a non-descript business card with just his number listed.

"Hey. If you have any other problems with the curse, or if you know what is doing this to you, give us a call." He handed the card to the man and one to the bartender.

The man from Martinique gave him a suspicious look. Pete reassured him. "Curses are a hobby of ours. Give us a call."

Myka gave her best look of confidence. She said "Thank you for your time." She nodded to the man and the bartender.


	4. Needle in an Ocean

**Thank you again for the reviews, public and private, and for the followers. **

**It is Friday again, so, here is Chapter 4. Just a short one for you.**

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><p>In the Warehouse, Artie stared at his board of seemingly random items. Pictures of Captain Daniel's entire crew were taped to the right of the board. A large map of known wrecks in the lower Caribbean took the middle of the board. Several were circled. New paper articles mentioning Captain Daniels littered the edges of the board. Several strings attached different pictures and articles where Artie saw a correlation. His finger traced his line of thought as he searched for a connection between present day events and past artifacts.<p>

Claudia noisily entered. Her arms were loaded with large and very heavy looking books. She was out of breath from hauling her load up the stairs to the office and there was a spider's web in her hair. She breathlessly dropped her load on Artie's desk.

"Careful with those! They're pre 18th century!" he warned.

"They're prehistoric is what they are! Thank god for digital!" She caught sight of the web in her bangs and started plucking it out. "Ew! Ew!" She ran for a mirror.

Artie shot her a look of irritation and shook his head. "I need you to get the next set of ship log books!" he called after her.

"How many are there?" she called from the front of the office. Artie looked at the map on the board. There were 23 known wrecks in the area where Captain Daniels found his wreck. His own Warehouse records showed an additional 17 undiscovered wrecks in the area.

"Uh… a few more!" he evaded.

Artie went over to the log books that he made Claudia retrieve and started looking through them. It wasn't long before he found some of the ships he wanted most. He separated out one book from the others and flipped to the back of the book. He lifted his glasses and started to read the sailor's description of how his ship was lost to the most savage pirate in history. Words like "haystack" and "needle" kept drifting through his mind.


	5. Daniels at Home

**Here's teh update- just a tad late. American holidays and all...**

**Thanks for the reviews and readers! **

**On wards with the investigation**

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><p>Pete and Myka got out of their car in a cute neighborhood. The streets were lined with palm trees and Florida oaks.<p>

"Right! Hitting him at home." Pete looked around at the single level houses with flat roofs. _Nice neighborhood- or would be if it wasn't 150 degrees!_ He loosened his collar. He eyed Myka already marching to the front door and ran to catch up.

"Hey Myka. Listen…" She turned to look at him and he almost flinched. _Geesh she's tense!_ "Um… how about if I run lead on this one?"

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"Well, it's just we're at this guy's home, with his wife and kids. He just got out of the hospital… I'm thinking that we can get the artifact with a little talking."

"That's what I'm going to do. Talk. I talk." Myka snapped out. She rang the doorbell.

"Yeah... Just let's try nice before going all vice." He smiled at her and hoped for the best. She managed a tight smile as the door opened a crack.

"Hello?"

"Hello. My name is Agent Bering, this is Agent Lattimer from the secret service." Myka showed her id. She thought of Pete's advice and tried to soften up. "May we come in?"

The lady looked out and hesitated. "What does the secret service want with us?" she said. Clearly the woman needed some reassurance. They really had no official reason for forcing her to let them in. Myka looked at Pete who stepped forward.

"Ma'am, we're here to help." He got a suspicious look over from the woman. "We're here to help your husband." He clarified, trying to get more to what she wanted to hear.

The woman's expression changed. She opened the door all of the way but still blocked the doorway. "You're here for Craig? How so?" she said.

Pete said, "We belong to a part of the secret service that handles … situations like what your husband experienced. We think that something did this to him. We want to find out what it was."

The woman spoke directly to Pete. She said "You can help him?"

Pete was honest. "I don't know. But I think we can. Either way, we can take whatever did this and get it out of your life." He thought that he was speaking cryptic enough that someone couldn't figure out what he was talking about, unless they already knew. Pete waited. Ball was in her court now.

The woman took a breath. She stepped back and invited them inside. She led them through the house to the living room. Pete and Myka started glancing around looking for anything looking artifact-y. Sliding glass doors led to the back yard. Craig's wife started explaining as she walked, "Craig has never done anything like this before. He goes away a lot for the season, but I thought that we were happy." Myka noticed lots of toys but a fairly orderly house. The house was dated, but neat. Stains in the carpet and sofa, Myka guessed milk and baby food.

Pete noted the family photos of a smiling family of four, dog included. "Have you noticed any changes in Craig's behavior before the other night?" he asked.

"No- I mean he had just gotten back for the season from Martinique." She said. "I used to dive with him. But now- I stay with the kids." She searched the agents' faces in hopes for answers. Pete noticed a picture of the happy couple posing with dive tanks and snorkels smiling on a boat.

"Have there been any major changes in your life lately?" Myka asked.

"No. Nothing. This is the third season that he's gone without me. We're almost used to it." She smiled sadly. "The kids are getting older and ready to start school this year. Nothing different." She hesitated. "When he came home that night, he- he wasn't himself. I've never seen him like that." She hugged herself and looked to her family playing in the backyard.

Pete and Myka followed her glance and saw the man from their files playing with his kids and dog. Pete glanced at Myka. She nodded almost imperceptivity. He slid open the door.

The sandy haired dad looked up smiling, expecting his wife. His smile faded at the suits. He looked at his wife for reassurance, who looked worried. He had on a knee brace and his left hand was in a cast.

"Honey, these guys are from the Secret Service. They said that they can help us." His wife went to stand by her husband but between him and Pete and Myka.

Pete decided to start before Myka. "Mr. Daniels, I'm Agent Lattimer, this is Agent Bering. We heard about your problem and we're here to help you with it."

Craig Daniels seriously doubted that they could help when he couldn't figure out what happened himself. "My problem?" he said.

Myka spoke up. "Mr. Daniels; Captain right?" He nodded. Myka smiled at him. "We work with 'special' items. We think that one of these items may have had something to do with what happened to you the other night."

Craig looked at them again. "Items? Like what?" he said. Pete glanced at Myka. They were dipping into dangerous territory of revealing too much.

Myka said, "It could be anything."

"Usually really old." Pete added. "But whatever it is, we can help you, if you give it to us. We'll take it away and it will never bother anyone else."

Craig looked at his wife. She shifted towards him and held his good hand. He looked at Pete and Myka and decided to trust them. "We brought up a few loads from a new wreck that we located. Pottery mostly, gun parts, lots of stuff. It was undiscovered, so a lot of debris. My crew found some coins, jewelry. Good stuff. We hit a great load." He gulped uncomfortably. "I started feeling – 'different' a day after that. But I blew it off." He shrugged and gripped his wife's hand. "When I came back, it just got worse. I started just getting mad at everyone, all the time." He sighed. "We had our end of season get together, like we always do- and… I just snapped." He started sweating and it wasn't from the heat. "I couldn't control myself." He stopped and looked at his wife. She squeezed his hand.

"Come on kids! Jake! Inside!" she shot a pleading look at the agents as she herded her kids and dog into the house, leaving them alone.

Captain Daniels watched his family leave inside the house. He turned to Pete and Myka. "That night, I got violent. Listen, I've never hit anyone before. Not like that, to hurt them. I've never even thought of hurting Joanie before _ever_! But that night I- I almost did. I did this." He held up his cast on his hand. "Fortunately it was just a picture." He looked at Myka. "You can always re-drywall a hole." She nodded in understanding. She said, "Craig, we can help. Give us the artifact. We can deal with it properly."

"I'm not sure that you can." he said.

Pete said, "We handle things like this all the time. Help us help you. For your family."

Craig looked at him and Myka nervously. "Ok. Just- just promise me that you'll get rid of it."

Pete looked him directly in the eye. With Myka at his side he said, "We will."


	6. Black Bart

As they were leaving Craig's house, Pete started buzzing. "We'll be ready on one second." He called to Craig.

He looked around to make sure there were no prying eyes and opened the Farnsworth. Myka walked to his side.

A grey and white Artie appeared. "Hey. Fill me in."

Pete said "Well it looks like our Captain, Craig, got rattled pretty good by the artifact. He's taking us to his office right now to snag it."

Artie looked happily surprised. "Oh. Great! That's great!"

Myka piped up. "Artie, do we even know what we are looking for?"

"Daniels didn't tell you what it is?" he looked at his agents, raising an eye brow.

Myka looked at Pete. "He didn't mention it. He's definitely ready to give it up, but he didn't really want to talk about it either."

Artie was annoyed. He sighed. "I'm only guessing." He shuffled some papers off-screen. "The coordinates of Daniels' wreck could be any number of undiscovered wrecks that the Warehouse has on file. If I had to guess, I'd say it's a Bart ship. There's a few in that area."

"Bart ship?" Pete asked.

Artie collected his thoughts. "Well, John Roberts was his real name. A Welsh man who was forced into piracy. He was so likeable that he was elected to the ship's captain in a very short time. After that he changed his name to Bartholomew Roberts." Artie paused but saw that his agents didn't recognize the name. "But- he just didn't inherit the boat and crew, but all of the previous captain's effects. One of those must have been an artifact because shortly after Roberts became captain, he went through a change." He paused for effect. "He became the most bloody and horrific pirate ever to set sail."

Pete said, "I've never heard of 'Captain Bartholomew Roberts though…"

"You know him as Black Bart." Artie said matter of factly.

Pete exclaimed, "Black Bart!"

Myka said, "We're looking for an artifact from Black Bart the Pirate?"

Pete said, "SO cool!"

But Artie wasn't done with his lecture. "He was the inspiration for the Dread Pirate Roberts, and most popular pirates of today. Actually, interestingly, there were two Black Barts. There's one from the American wild west, but he was known-"

"ARTIE!" they both interrupted him.

"Ok! Ok- unfortunately I don't know _precisely_ what the artifact is. Yet….. but, try keeping an eye out for items from the time period. We're talking early 17th century, perhaps late 16th century if it was handed down. Um…." He grabbed a book and turned the Farnsworth to display a picture.

Artie pointed to the jewelry hanging around the portrayed pirate's chest. "He was known to be well dressed. There's references to -"Artie read from an eye witness account, "a heavy gold chain with a cross of diamonds" that he was seen with. That was supposed to be for the King of Portugal before Roberts took the ship. It could be that…" he paused in thought then shrugged. "or any number of items."

Pete summarized. "Ok. So - old pirate stuff that causes people to beat up their friends and jump off bridges. Right. Got it!"

Artie nodded in agreement. "Yup! Good Luck!"

The screen went black.

Artie snapped his Farnsworth closed. He rubbed his goatee in thought. He liked the cross of diamonds as the artifact at first look, but there was something bothering him about it. If something like that was discovered, there would probably be more excitement. Words like "gold" and "jewels" and such would have cropped up before now. _No_, he thought, _it's probably something less impressive_.

The effects also seemed to creep up on the victim. _What does that mean?_ Artie crossed the room to his idea board and looked at the timeline between the discovery and Daniels attempted suicide. "Four days." he mumbled. _So… what? The artifact takes time?_ "Gradual." He thought out loud. "But _how_?" His eyes scanned the entire board for connections that he might have missed the first dozen times. Talking out loud was a trick that he picked up to better organize his thoughts. With new agents around he had to pull back on that habit a bit.

"Direct contact?" Artie wondered out loud. Then he disagreed with himself. "Not for four days…. Then… proximity maybe?" he mumbled.

"Do you always talk to yourself?"

Artie about jumped out of his skin. He had been so wrapped in thought that he hadn't heard Claudia come in. He caught his breath and straightened his glasses. "Don't _do_ that!"

"Oh." She saw that she really did scare him. "Hey! I brought lunch." She held up a bag.

Artie grunted and turned back to the board. Claudia frowned. Artie was normally always up for food. But she wasn't discouraged that easily. "Come on! We need substance! Ham and cheese. And… carrots!" She put a plate with a couple of sandwiches and veggies on the desk behind the frazzled agent.

She grabbed a carrot stick, starting lunch, but when she turned around, Artie hadn't moved from staring at the board. Claudia tilted her head to one side and walked up behind Artie. He was mumbling to himself and he kept looking and pointing to various pieces of paper on the board. Claudia knew that look. He was on to something. She shifted from lunch to follow his lead.

"Soo… Proximity?" she asked.

Artie glanced over his shoulder not taking his finger from the board. "What?"

"You were saying, 'four days' and 'proximity'." She recounted. "So. Proximity." she stated it as a fact then asked, "To what?"

"Um… Daniels." Artie scratched his head as he struggled to verbalize his thoughts. "The artifact took four days to make Daniels jump off the bridge." He referenced the board again.

Claudia switched tracks with him. "So… it takes four days for the artifact to effect someone?" she guessed.

Artie cringed at her leap of deduction. "M-maybe. We can't be sure. Some artifacts can um.. 'wake up' after being lost for years. It may be just that it took that long _this_ time."

Claudia followed his logic. "So, next time it won't take four days."

Artie shrugged. They looked at each other. They both knew it had already been two days.


	7. Strike One

**Thanks love4lots. :)**

**For those still reading, here is the next chapter, as promised.**

**From now on, the updates will be only on Fridays.**

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><p>Captain Craig opened the door to his store front. He entered closely followed by Pete and Myka. They were both wearing their protective purple gloves. Myka had the container of neutralizer slung over her shoulder.<p>

Craig walked confidently to the back of the little store. Pete and Myka followed past wall oceanic charts of south Florida, the Florida Keys and Bahamas. Pete glanced at pictures on the walls of various adventures with divers and snorkelers. Myka noticed back entrance half obstructed with boxes and tanks. Pete glanced in the display case. He saw various pieces of junk and flakes of metal given incomprehensible importance. Then he saw a card saying "Gold Cob 1715". The coin holder was empty. Pete caught Myka's eye and he tilted his head to the display. She widened her eyes as if to say _Yeah maybe_.

Craig said "We do some basic restoration here." He motioned to the workbench at the back of the shop. "We send the rest out." Craig unlocked the door to the back office. "I have a safe with the recovered gold and better recoveries in here."

Pete and Myka squeeze past the captain into his office. Craig hesitated at the door. "It's behind the desk." he said. Myka rounded the desk and saw the small safe on the floor. Pete kept an eye on Craig and his partner. "Key?" he said.

Craig handed Pete his office keys holding one up. "Here. Please! Just take it." He backed up another step.

Pete realized that Craig was scared of the artifact. He supposed with good reason. He handed the key to Myka. Myka backed up allowing room for Pete to get to the safe himself. Pete shot her a look of annoyance. He put the key into the safe and put his hand on the handle. He hesitated and looked at Myka. "Wait!" she said. She took the lid off of the neutralizer canister, ready to throw the neutralizer if needed. She looked at Pete and nodded.

"One, two…. THREE!" Pete ripped the door open and ducked.

He gave it a second. When nothing happened he and Myka peered into the safe.

There were seemingly random trinkets on shelves, a cash envelope, and a few other items. The agents let their breath out. Pete poked the trinkets around a bit looking for the artifact with Myka over his shoulder giving suggestions.

"There!" she said when she saw a glint. Pete shifted some articles and revealed a gold coin.

He raised his eyebrows. "Hello!" he said.

Myka shoved the neutralizer canister as close to the gold coin as she could and nodded encouragement to Pete.

"Ok, ready?" He quickly grabbed the coin and threw it into the canister as they both turned their heads away.

The coin went into the canister with an unimpressive plop.

Myka looked into the canister and saw the coin resting at the bottom of the canister. She looked at Pete with disappointment. "Not it." She said. She fished it out and put the coin back.

Pete frowned and looked into the safe again. The coin was the only thing really artifact-y looking in there. He poked a few more items but saw nothing promising.

"Uhm…. Exactly which object do you think gave you the mood swing?" he asked.

Craig said from the doorway. "The knife! Just take it!"

Pete looked again. "No knife." He said to Myka.

"There's no knife here." Myka said louder to Craig.

"What? It's there, with the grip, amazingly preserved. Early 17th century." Craig started to round his desk to look for himself.

Pete said, "Sir, there's no knife in the safe. No sword … just old metal, coins and goo- a little goo… now I mean…" he tried to clean off the drops of neutralizer they dropped.

"No! It was in there! I put it in there myself and didn't touch it after that evening at the bar. I swear!" Craig's voice was on the edge of panic.

Myka tried to head off the emotion. "Ok. It _was_ here, but it's not now. Does anyone else have access to the safe?"

Craig was taken aback a bit as he thought. "Well my whole crew meets here once a week"

Pete said "And they have access to the safe?"

"No, of course not. Just me and…" he looked at them. "Jay. Jason. My First Mate. He has a key!"

"Ok great. Jason. Where is he?" Myka asked. Craig opened his drawer and started copying Jason's address and number. He ripped the paper off and gave it to the agents.


	8. 470

Claudia leaned back against the door of the office breathless. She managed to drag up three of the largest and heaviest of the log books. She hefted them over to Artie's desk. She threw them down and collapsed in a chair.

Piles of large and small books lay around the office floor. Several were open to specific pages. Paper notes were strewn everywhere. Artie had positioned himself right in the middle of the chaos. He popped his head up when he heard Claudia. "Did you get _The Royal Rover_?"

"Child labor is illegal you know." Claudia responded.

"You're not a child!" he snorted.

Claudia mumbled, "Well if you go by comparison to those in the room…."

"_What_?"

"Nothing!" Claudia sat up. "Rover! Rover…." She lifted the heavy large books and pulled out the bottom one. "One Royal Rover first edition! As requested!" She picked up the heavy volume, crossing the room to give it to Artie.

"Ah!" Artie sat up and took the heavy book from Claudia.

Just then his Farnsworth started buzzing on his desk. Literally buried in books, Artie looked at Claudia.

She said, "You want me to…?" She pointed at the Farnsworth.

"Yeah, yeah." He replied.

Claudia plopped down in Artie's chair and flipped open his Farnsworth.

A little grey and white image of Pete and Myka appeared.

Myka said "Claudia? Where's Artie?"

"He's buried in books at the moment. Can I take a message?" she joked.

"_Claudia_!" Artie yelled. He started digging himself out.

"Okay… gawd… keep your hand-me-downs on!" She picked up the Farnsworth and handed it to Artie.

He squinted a look of annoyance at her and took his Farnsworth.

"Yeah."

"Artie, we think the artifact isn't here." Myka reported.

"You _think_?" Artie was not amused.

Pete said "Craig told us it was in his safe, but it wasn't there."

"_What_ wasn't?" interrupted Artie.

"A knife. Artie it's a knife." Myka inserted. She wanted to make sure that Artie knew that they found out what the artifact was.

"A knife….." Artie's eyes wandered as his brain went into high speed trying to remember all that he had read about 18th century knife artifacts.

Pete said, "Yeah but Artie, Craig thinks that his First Mate took the knife."

"_What_? Where?" Artie's full attention was back on his agents. He unburied himself in a hurry.

Myka said, "We're not sure, he's not at his home here in Florida."

Pete said, "And his car is gone."

Artie pointed at Claudia and waved at the computer. She sat up in her chair and started launching the search functions on her computer.

He said, "Name?"

Myka said, "Jason Bucknell. Current address is 10051 Oak Street, Boca Raton, Florida."

Artie looked at Claudia. "Got it." she said to him. Her fingers started flying as she entered the information.

"Ok, you two have his picture?" Artie asked as he set his Farnsworth on the stand at his desk.

Myka said, "Yeah, it's in the file."

Claudia reported her results. "Check it. Travel plans." She turned the screen for Artie to read.

"Uh… Ok. It looks like he just purchased a one way ticket." His bushy eyebrows went up. He looked at Claudia who looked concerned. She shrugged.

Pete asked, "Where to?" he silently hoped back to the islands.

"South Dakota." Artie said.

Myka shoved her face in front of Pete's. "Really? South Dakota. Artie you don't think that has something to do with the Warehouse do you?"

Artie jumped up from the desk and went to his idea board. He snagged Jason's picture and summary from the board. "No… No. He's originally from Pierre." He inwardly released a sigh of relief.

"Looks like you two are coming _back_ to the tundra!" Claudia said into the Farnsworth.

Pete saw his tropical fantasy evaporate. "Bah."

Claudia thrusted her face in front of the Farnsworth. "Aw- come on back- share the snow!"

Artie brushed her aside as he came back into view of Pete and Myka's Farnsworth. "Get yourselves to the airport." He pointed to Claudia's computer. She jumped to work, reading his mind. "Your tickets will be waiting for you. Find Jason, snag and bag. Keep me informed." He clicked the Farnsworth closed.

Artie watched Claudia punch the keys confirming the airline tickets on the next quickest flight that would get Pete and Myka to Pierre. With the artifact in the air and Pete and Myka in pursuit, they would at least have some time.

Claudia spun in her chair to face her boss. "Ok. Next step?"

"Next step is we call it a night." he said. It had been a very long day and he knew that Claudia must be at least half as tired as he was.

"'A night?' But… the knife…" Claudia looked at Artie expectedly.

"Can wait. It's in there-" he swept his arm across the volumes of books that littered his office. "somewhere. We won't find it if we're half asleep." He picked up a promising log book and stuffed it into his messenger bag to read later that night.

"But-" she protested. Artie half smiled. _She __**is**__ eager_.

He patiently explained. "Pete and Myka will be in the air soon. The artifact is in the air. Nothing is going to change until tomorrow."

Claudia let out a sigh of surrender. She knew that he was right and her body ached from carrying so many books up the stairs. Then her face lit up. "Oh! Ok, just let me…" she started pounding on her keyboard. "-run a search on Black Bart and known knife references." She clicked her mouse and grinned. Then her grin faded as she saw the time bar on the search. "How many ships did you say this pirate captured?"

Artie was getting his winter coat on. He said, "Um.. 470."

Claudia's eyes popped out. **"470!"** she groaned and wondered if the search would be done by the time they came back in the morning.

Artie coughed out a laugh at her reaction. He held up Claudia's coat for her. "Come on."


	9. Goo In My Pocket

**Thanks Tim and Jimmy, and those reading and alerting. Speaking of alerts...**

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><p>Pete and Myka landed in Pierre Regional Airport, South Dakota. They exited the airport sliding doors with their luggage as a snow plow brushed past them forming seven foot snow piles in the parking lot.<p>

Pete took a deep breath and nearly froze his lungs. "Ah! Home sweet home."

Myka ripped the hair band out of her hair and smiled at Pete.

Soon they were staking out the address given to them by Claudia for Jason's parents' house in the state's capital. They were both drinking coffee and wearing scarves, but Pete hung a palm tree car freshener from Florida around his rear view mirror to remind him that there was warmer weather somewhere.

Pete looked at Myka. She was fiddling with the neutralizer canister. "Would you leave that alone? What's wrong with it?""

"It's just so BIG and bulky!" She sat back with a huff. She hadn't given up on her ideas of improved equipment, even if Artie did shut her down. "Don't you think that we could use more access to neutralizer?"

"Yeah- I'd like to carry it around in my pocket. But goo isn't exactly pocket friendly." He sipped his coffee, "Besides, don't' you start hallucinating if you ingest it?"

Myka stopped. _He's right!_ She stared at the can and wondered if that was why Artie was so quick to reject her idea about infusing the first aid kit with neutralizer. She thoughtfully closed the lid and put the canister in the back seat.

Pete stretch and said, "He's not doing anything aggressive."

Myka said, "Not that we can see."

"Maybe he doesn't have it. Could he have sold it? I mean, Black Bart's knife has to be pretty high up there as pirate booty."

Myka cocked her head and thought, "No. He still has it. He's just being smart about it. He's clever." Her instincts had her pegged on Jason having the artifact on him. Just then Jason opened the door and walked to his car.

"That's it. Direct approach." Pete got out of the car and approached Jason. Myka jumped out and followed her partner.

Pete jogged up the drive way and waved Jason down. "Hi! It's Jason right?"

"Yes. Can I help you?"

"My name's Pete, this is Myka. We're moving in, the house down the block." He pointed to an Open House sign on the corner. Myka followed Pete's point and saw the sign. She hastily forced what she hoped was a neighborly smile.

Pete flinched at Myka's nervous, toothy grin. He started talking until she could catch up with the act. "Yeah, she's a little nervous at meeting new people," he grabbed Myka into a hug, but she twisted his grip and it ended up in a little dance move where she stood in front of Pete facing Jason. Pete draped his arm on her shoulder in mock affection. He flashed a grin and said, "I told her, I want to meet our new neighbors!"

Jason eyed them as the new weird couple on the block. "Well it's nice to meet you. You knew my name… how?"

Myka piped in. "Oh we met you parents last week, when we first saw the house, George and Carla right?" she looked over her shoulder at Pete. "Right _honey_?"

"Uh.. Right! Carla and George!" he said. _Point one for Myka's memory_! He thought.

"Ah." Jason seemed satisfied.

Myka said, "They must have mentioned you." She smiled again.

"So… anything that we need to know about around here?" Pete tried to get a man to man rapport with Jason.

"Not that I know of. Nice place, quiet neighborhood. You'll enjoy it here." He tried to open his car door, but Pete and Myka were blocking him.

"Nobody that we need to know about? No, you know, funny business?" Pete pressed.

Jason eyed them suspiciously "Not yet!" he said in a less than inviting way.

Myka piped up. "We're just trying to be friendly. You know, get to know people." Jason still made motions to his car. "How about we get together sometime?" She could feel Pete tense behind her. "We haven't found many people our same age."

Jason said, "No, that's ok. I'm only here for a visit." He smiled tensely. "Welcome to the neighborhood. I'd like to get going now." He made to get by Pete and Myka who were still partially blocking his car door.

Pete started retreating. "Ah that's ok-" but Myka cut him off. "You know, honey, maybe this neighborhood isn't as friendly as we thought it was."

Jason stopped dead and faced the 'couple'. "Maybe it's not." He said. He and Myka had a long second staring each other down before Pete broke the tension.

"Well! OK!" he said a little too loudly. He nearly dragged Myka backwards a few steps and into the street towards their car. "Great to meet you! Hey- we'll let you know when we do a bar-b-que! Tell your folks we said hi!" He waved and smiled as Jason gave them the "weird neighbors" look and got into his car.

Myka stormed ahead of Pete to the front of his truck and started pacing. Pete smiled and waved again as Jason revved his car as he drove by. Then he turned on his partner.

"What was that?"

Myka rubbed her brow. "I don't know. I'm sorry. It's that guy, he just got to me!"

Pete hadn't seen Myka's shoulders that close to her ears since they were first shocked by being assigned to the boondocks of South Dakota.

"Listen, you've been really tense since we've started this case."

"I know, I know." She confessed.

"Anything you want to tell your partner?" Pete put his hands on his hips and waited.

Myka started, "No." She looked at Pete. She knew that she owed him an explanation, but it wasn't that easy. It was Artie shooting her ideas down, this case… _just everything_! "I've just been feeling… underappreciated lately."

Pete squinted at her. _That's it?_ "Uh hu. Ok listen. How about it we swap? You take the telsa for a while?"

Myka looked hard at her partner. He had never suggested that before. She must have really scared him. "Yeah. Ok." She said. They swapped guns.

"Just 'till we snag the artifact." He said.

"Yeah. Ok sure." She stashed the tesla in her gun holder.

"Ok?" Pete looked at her. Then he said, "I'm going back in the car. I'm freezing!"

"Yeah me too!"

They both scampered for the car doors.


	10. Cafe

**Happy Holidays!**

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><p>Pete and Myka followed Jason into a shopping center. They watched him enter a store, so the agents decided to hang out until he exited. Myka looked at Pete and gestured to the café on the corner.<p>

"I think that I'm going to check in." he pulled out the Farnsworth and looked around for a private spot. "You wanna?" He motioned to the side of the store removed from the main walkway.

"Mm. No. You got it. I'll get you a coffee?" she said.

"Yeah ok." Pete said as he watched her enter the café.

He glanced around and decided that he was the only crazy person hanging outside in winter in South Dakota. He opened the Farnsworth and pressed the button to call Artie.

Artie's face appeared on the screen. Pete could instantly tell that he was distracted.

"Yeah." His boss was to the point.

"Hey. Just checking in. We're in Pierre, talked to Jason, but I just don't know if the artifact is here or not." Pete confessed his suspicions.

"What did he say?"

Pete sighed. "He's not exactly friendly. I think that we might be having a personality conflict with him. I don't know. He's staying with his parents here. I'll get access to their house and get a look around." Pete started planning on reusing his new neighbor on the block cover story.

"'Personality conflict?' Who's personality?" Artie's full attention was on Pete now.

"Oh, it's nothing." _Now I stepped in it_ he thought. "Just Myka and this guy, Jason. They just don't get along." He understated.

"Get along? Pete, what is going on over there?" his boss pressed.

Pete sighed again. "Really it's nothing. Myka's just a little stressed. She just got aggressive with him. But some suspects really respond to that. It's just her style."

Artie seemed to relax a little bit. "Ah. Well keep an eye on her. Where is Myka?"

"She's getting coffee. Because she's smart. She's inside where it's warm!" Pete shivered.

"Yeah ok. Get eyes on the artifact!" Artie shut his Farnsworth closed before Pete could.


	11. Back at the Warehouse

**These are short chapters, I know. But to make up for it I'll release the next chapter tomorrow. The action is starting to pick up!**

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><p>Back in the Warehouse, Artie was buried in books again. Once he knew that he was looking for a knife, he was able to flesh out some clues. The scan that Claudia ran cross referencing Bartholomew Roberts and knives revealed more possibilities than he cared for. He scanned log book entries for knives displaying artifact characteristics. The problem was that only very rarely were the actual artifacts identified. Usually he had to find artifacts by recognizing their effect on people or the environment around the artifact. He had to find the artifacts by indirect observation. It made for long searches.<p>

Artie reached for the historic recount of the pirate's final battle and reread it. The knife was not listed. Artie thought hard. He pulled out a log book that he read earlier of a ship that was captured by Bart and his crew. There was a wood cutting picture of the pirate. Artie pulled out a magnifying glass. He could clearly see a knife tucked into the pirate's belt.

The old agent got up and went to his idea board. Bart died in February 1722 and the knife was missing. The wood cutting picture with the knife was dated March 1721. If the wreck that Daniels discovered was sunk between that time- then the whole story would fit. He searched for the scrap of paper with the details of the wreck site. He jammed his finger on the board. The paper under his hand said "French ship: Lévrier; Sunk 1721; November 15; 12:48 pm." How the Warehouse had records on the exact time of the sinking, he had no idea. But Artie did know that he found his knife.

Now that he confirmed the knife he was looking in his references was the knife that Pete and Myka were hunting, Artie was able to dig for some details. He went back to his book piles. He dug through references of the battles with the pirate Roberts focusing on what could be artifact effects.

Before long, Artie had a list in his hand. He sat up and referenced it. His face went slack as his mind started connecting common characteristics. He flinched as a sudden realization struck him. He looked up and quickly crossed the room to get out a much newer looking medical book. Artie started making notes and drew lines connecting the new book's info and the old.

The old agent stood frozen for a second in thought. He then turned around suddenly and tore across his office. He started digging for items on the shelves in the back. He threw a few random things into his bag and then tore out of the Warehouse.


	12. Back at the Cafe

**And here we are!**

**Bonus release! For those of us who are reading this New Year's Eve. I hope everyone has a happy and wonderful New Year and 2012. **

**On with the show.**

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><p>Pete and Myka finished their coffee and watched the store that Jason went into. Pete checked his watch. "It might be about time to head in there." Myka was staring off into space with her brow furrowed. Pete's voice jerked her out of her trance.<p>

She glanced at her watch. "Yeah. Let go."

As they got up, the doors to the store flew open and a man came out. He was obviously upset. He was breathing hard and his face was red with emotion. Pete and Myka lingered at the trash can by the door watching the store through the shop glass. Just behind the angry man Jason stomped out of the store. He seemed charged up, but with a control over himself.

Pete and Myka followed Jason into the mall. Jason walked quickly through the crowd. He bumped into a man. Pete and Myka watched as Jason and the man started verbally fighting until the situation escalated into shoves. The agents hurried to the commotion, but other shoppers broke them up before they got there.

They followed Jason at a distance until he went into a diner.

Pete stopped outside the diner and tried to look through the window. "Aw, I don't have a view." He looked at Myka. "You wanna?" he motioned to the inside of the restaurant.

"Yeah. He's getting more aggressive. Besides, we're still a couple, right honey?" she smirked at Pete and opened the door.

The two agents took a seat at the bar facing the kitchen that gave them a view of the rest of the diner and Jason. Myka leaned into Pete and said, "There's been no real violence yet. Maybe we should just arrest him for stealing from his boss and then get the information about the knife from him."

Pete agreed, "Yeah, it he hasn't gotten rid of it by now." He jumped as his pocket started buzzing. "Be right back." He left the diner to answer the Farnsworth outside.

Myka watched Pete leave then turned back to watch Jason, but his table was empty. Suddenly Jason slid himself into a chair next to her.

"This seat taken?" he said.

"Oh! Ah. No! All yours!" she managed to say.

He looked at her and said, "I hope it's not too forward, but I saw you looking at me over there."

"Me? Oh no…" but she knew that she was busted. "It's just that- I.. heh. I thought that you looked like an old boyfriend. Sort of brought back memories. I didn't mean to stare."

"I see. It's too bad that we didn't meet before, because that guy you're with… He's just not your type." Jason said smoothly, cooly.

Myka knew this was her chance. She was feeling a little reckless so she took it. "He's not?" Myka played into him.

"No. He can't hold a candle to you. Why are you with him?" Jason exuded confidence.

Myka could feel Jason's personality coming off of him almost in waves. "Well, um… you know, history. Friend of the family. Stuff like that." She felt like this wasn't going terribly well. She tried to change tactics. "But maybe you're right…"

Jason leaned in closer to her. "Oh I am."


	13. A Plan

**Thanks for reading! Let's see what that slime ball Jason is up to. **

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><p>Outside the diner Pete opened the Farnsworth.<p>

"Artie, we think that Jason has the artifact, but we haven't seen it yet." He said while looking around.

"Yeah bad mojo there." It was Claudia's voice.

"Claudia! Where's Artie?"

"I don't know. He's not in the warehouse and not answering his Farnsworth." She looked concerned but focused. "From the looks of things, he ran out pretty fast. But I've taken a look at what he has out and it looks like that knife is all wonked out."

"Meaning what?" Pete said.

"Well, I can't tell exactly, Artie is the guru, but it looks like the materials of the knife were imbued with all kinds of pirate-y nastiness and that plus the pull of the Bermuda Triangle sort of amplified it until you have- well, what you have now. Apparently it has a pull that affects some sort of chemical in the brain thing."

Pete tried to follow her logic and pulled out what he needed. "Chemicals?"

"Yeah! But the good news is that if it **is** a chemical effect, there's a good chance that the effects can be reversed." She tried to be cheery.

Pete said thoughtfully, "Captain Craig did recover."

"Hopefully you won't have to get the guy to jump off a bridge to bag this artifact." She said.

"Yeah" Pete agreed. "Thanks for the update." He closed the Farnsworth.

Pete entered the diner and his stomach jumped. Jason was there talking to Myka. They were either busted or Myka was working him for info. Either way he was surprised that they hadn't started throwing punches yet. He hurried to his seat.

Pete slid into the seat at the bar next to Myka.

"Hey honey." He said. It looked to him like he interrupted the conversation just before it got really heated.

Myka snapped her head around at him. He saw new scowl lines that he'd never seen on her before.

"Everything ok?" Pete said in a voice a little too high pitched for his liking.

Jason was the first to talk. "Sure. Everything's fine. I was just being 'neighborly'." He over emphasized. Jason got up to leave. As he passed Pete he said "See you around." with obvious hostility.

"Yeah bye." Pete said. He turned to Myka. "What was that about?"

Myka was a little breathless. Her conversation left her feeling so angry for some reason. She was literally seeing red at the edges of her vision. She shook off the feeling.

Pete tried to figure out his partner. "Myka? You ok?"

"Yeah!" Myka took a cleansing breath. "Fine."

"What did you two talk about?" he persisted.

"Things." She took a sip of water. "Jason has something coming up on Monday."

"Something like what?" he asked.

"I don't know. But something pretty big."

"Like selling the knife?"

Myka nodded. "Yeah maybe. It would fit." Pete nodded. Myka continued, "But I did get where he hangs out."

Pete smiled. "Yeah? Good job. Using your 'feminine wiles' eh?"

Myka smiled and shrugged. "It's over on Main. There's a party at his friend's house tonight. What did Artie have to say?"

"Oh, Artie wasn't there." Myka did a double take at her partner. Pete shrugged in agreement and continued, "Yeah. Claudia said that she thinks that the knife has a chemical pull on the brain or something." He sighed. "That's why Craig recovered once the knife wasn't there anymore."

Myka nodded in understanding. "So we just have to isolate the knife."

"And find it." Pete added. Myka nodded in agreement.


	14. Catching Jason

**Props to madcloisfan for being the ONLY one who reviewed. **

**For those still here- the story is starting to heat up!**

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><p>Pete and Myka found themselves back in their car staking out the party on Main street.<p>

"Ok, this guy is getting more aggressive. Let's go and get him now then grab the artifact." Pete said.

"What if he hid it until the sale on Monday?" Myka offered.

"Then we get him to tell us where it is." Pete said. "I'm not just going to wait until he hurts somebody."

They both snapped their heads up as yelling started coming from the house they were watching. They saw Jason quickly get into his car shaking his hand. A man came out from the house with a bloody lip yelling at Jason and looking confused.

Pete and Myka looked at each other. They were too late to stop any violence. Their glance told each other that they were both ready to bring Jason in. Pete started the car and revved after Jason.

Jason's car drove aggressively down the street. He cut off two cars and swiped a third.

Pete said, "That's it, we're taking this guy."

Myka encouraged him. "Get in behind him! Hit him!"

Jason's car sped up and turned suddenly.

"He's on to us." Myka observed.

The car took a tight turn down an alley. Pete cranked the steering wheel to follow. Jason's car swerved a little in the turn and Pete was able to tap his bumper, sending the chased car into the side wall of a warehouse. Pete jammed the brakes and stopped his car right behind Jason's, pinning the car in place.

Jason opened his car door and started running down the alley. Myka jumped out of the car first and gave chase with Pete close behind. At the end of the alley Jason slowed to turn and Myka caught him. She used her momentum to throw him off balance. She punched him in the face with her right hand and used her left leg on the backswing to kick out his back foot sending him to the ground. Myka jumped on Jason and pulled her arm back to let loose her aggression but Pete caught up with her just then and caught her arm.

Pete pulled his revved up partner off of Jason. "Woah killer!" He quickly turned back just in time to see a red faced Jason lunging at him. Amazed that Jason could recover so quickly, Pete was barely able to dodge his lunge, and ended up on his back end. Jason quickly turned to attack Pete. Pete looked up at Jason. He was red faced and breathing hard. Jason got one step when he froze and fell to the ground. Myka lowered her telsa after firing, also out of breath.

"Nice!" Pete complimented his partner.

Pete quickly got up and secured Jason. He finished handcuffing him and looked up to see Myka standing half way down the alley.

"Myka?"

She turned to face him, holding the knife that Jason had dropped in the chase.

"Uh- you wanna bag that….? Myka?" Pete could see that Myka was still breathing hard and looked almost dazed.

Myka saw streaks of red pouring down her vision. She struggled for control, but felt surges of anger swell up and drown her. She looked at her pathetic partner stand up and start towards her.

"You were inadequate in the field before, as you are here." She heard herself say.

Pete froze. He had his troubles before being assigned to the Warehouse, but Myka had never rubbed his face in that before. Then he realized. "Myka. It's the artifact!" Pete flashed back to their exposure to Jason. When they talked to Jason at his parents' house, Myka was in between Pete and Jason. She could have blocked the artifact from affecting him. Pete also left Myka alone in the diner with Jason. He must have had the knife on him and Myka was exposed again. "The knife is affecting you Myka! Don't listen to it!" he pleaded.

She looked at him with wild eyes. Her entire vision was a wall of angry red now. "You are not worth my time." She pointed the tesla at him and fired. Pete fell to the ground with electricity sparking off his belt buckle.


	15. Chapter 15

**Looks like people are back from the holidays! Thanks for all of the reviews! In honor of JoyceJames reading all previous 14 chapters in one sitting, I'm releaseing this bit early. **

**Thanks for the support!**

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><p><em>"The knife is affecting you Myka! Don't listen to it!" he pleaded.<em>

_Myka looked at Pete with wild eyes. Her entire vision was a wall of angry red now. "You are not worth my time." She pointed the tesla at him and fired. Pete fell to the ground with electricity sparking off his belt buckle. _

The crazy, angry Myka heard a movement and suddenly jumped to the side and just in time to dodge a tesla blast from the side of the alley. She rolled and retreated back to Pete's car to take cover behind the open door.

"I knew you were on your way." She called out into the alley from behind the car door. "You made good time."

"I have a fast car." Artie replied. He kept his telsa aimed at the car.

Myka looked around. She ducked her head and ran from Pete's car to a side alley door, entering the building on the side of the alley. Artie saw Myka leave, but didn't have a clear shot. He watched to make sure that he knew where she went. Then he walked backwards a few steps before turning to run and check on Pete.

Artie determined that Pete was unconscious but otherwise unharmed. The old supervisor breathed a sigh of relief and congratulated the young agent's luck that Myka didn't have her gun. Just then Jason started coming to.

The first mate struggled to raise his head. His words came out slury until he became more animated and heated. "Who are you? Are you one of them too? What are you- cops? You can't so this to me! I'll have your jobs!" Jason screamed. Artie said nothing but observed how the man went from unconsciousness to near instant raging. "How dare you handcuff me! When I'm done with you- you'll have nothing! They'll be nothing left!" Jason tried to get up, still handcuffed. Artie stepped close to him and pushed him all the way back down to the ground.

Jason screamed; red faced. "How DARE you! I'll cut your throat while you sleep! You'll never get rid of me!" He still screamed half into the pavement as Artie calmly put his foot on Jason to hold him down. Artie dug in his bag and pulled out four clear containers of liquid. He zipped open a leather pouch and pulled out a syringe. Artie looked over his glasses as he carefully filled the syringe with clear liquid from the cylinder and tapped out the air.

Artie removed his foot and knelt down by Jason who was still screaming threats at the top of his lungs. _At least this will be a good test run_ Artie thought. "You might want to hold still." he said to Jason over his yells. Disregarding the insults, Artie stabbed Jason with the syringe. He carefully depressed the plunger and pulled out the needle.

"OW! You can't do that! What are you _doing_ to me?" Jason raged and thrashed.

Artie kept a grip on Jason and tried to stop him from hurting himself. After several seconds Jason's efforts slacken and then calmed down. Artie grabbed Jason and helped the man sit up. "Here. Easy. Hey. Look at me. Look at me!"

The color slowly started to ebb from Jason's face as he caught his breath. Artie held his head and watched Jason's eyes go from dilated to semi normal in a few seconds.

"You ok?" Artie asked Jason.

Jason looked stunned and confused. "Yeah. I guess so." He said weakly. He could barely hold his head up.

Artie glanced at Pete who hadn't moved yet. He figured that Myka had the tesla set at full strength. "Ok." He said to Jason. "I'll be right back." Artie set Jason down carefully and he promptly passed out on the asphalt. Artie checked once more on Pete then grabbed his bag and wielded his tesla.

The old agent carefully went up the alley to pursue Myka.


	16. Warehouse  No, not that warehouse

**Thanks for the reviews guys! Woot! :) Makes me happy- and thanks- uh Pete. Sorry you got Tesla'ed. ;)**

**Lets see what happened when Artie goes to chase Myka. Action!**

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><p>The building that formed the alley where Pete and First Mate Jason were lying was a loading warehouse and it was empty of workers that late in the evening. Crates and palates of goods were stacked high in places and waited to be loaded onto trucks for delivery. Energy saving measures had only a third of the lights in the ceiling turned on, dimly lighting the rows below.<p>

Artie walked in the building slowly and took in his surroundings holding his tesla in one hand and his bag in the other. As quietly as possible, the plump agent snuck around a palate of wrapped boxes keeping his tesla in front on him. He own breathing was annoying loud as he strained to listen for any sound. Then, Myka's shoes clicking on the hard flooring reached his ears.

Artie held his breath and stood stone still. Slowly, quietly, and carefully, the agent let out his breath and turned to his right.

He looked up and evaluated the dim lights hung high in the rafters. Peeking down an aisle, and turned to his left. Kneeling down, Artie opened his bag and withdrew his protective dark goggles and to put them on his forehead. He rummaged around and swapped out his tesla for what looked like a cross between a flare gun and a pop gun.

Artie strained his ears for any noise but heard none. He took a breath and looked around the corner of a row. He snuck up the row looking for signs of Myka. The next row over Artie saw Myka's shoes abandoned which explained why he didn't hear her footsteps any more. Artie clenched his jaw in frustration. He briefly considered the acoustics in the place.

He yelled out. "I'm here to help you. You _know_ this." He most likely gave away his position, but Artie knew that every minute that Myka was in the presence of the artifact pirate knife reduced the chances that she could be helped.

He heard a shifting sound to his left. Artie knew it was probably a set up, but he had little choice. He backed up an aisle and circled towards the sound.

The old agent peered through boxes and caught movement. He could almost feel pulses of energy coming through the storage warehouse. He turned a corner and saw Myka. She was slowly walking away from him. She held the artifact knife in front of her. Artie thought that he saw the knife's edges blur as it seemed to pulse in the dim lighting.

Artie lowered his goggles over his eyes. He silently leveled his pop gun at Myka's back. Then he raised his arm and fired the gun above her head. Myka spun to face him as the gun fired. They both watched as a dark ball slowly arced through the air over her head. In Artie's goggles, the ball sparkled brightly. Myka didn't wait, but started to run for cover. When the ball was closest to Myka, Artie depressed the plunger at the back of the gun. The dark ball exploded in a huge flash of light. Myka was away from under the ball but not far enough to escape its effects. Even though she wasn't looking at it, she still slowed to a walk, dazed.

Artie dropped the pop gun into his bag and quickly drew out his tesla. He fired and hit Myka who crumpled to the floor.

The old agent didn't waste time. He hurried up to Myka as the flair died out. Artie ripped off his goggles and deposited them and the tesla into his bag. Then he fished out the syringe box and container of clear vials of antidote. He started to prepare a syringe to cure Myka.

Myka's eyes opened a slit. She saw Artie a few feet away, busy with his bag and quickly closed them again.

Artie tapped the air out of the prepared syringe then turned to Myka to inject her. Suddenly her foot flashed out pushing him back a few feet and driving the breath from his lungs. As her kick came down, she used the momentum to roll to her feet towards her boss. She quickly punched him with a right upper cut that nearly knocked him off his feet and sent the syringe flying. Her next motion was with her left hand as she stabbed Artie in the arm with Bart's knife.

A short scream escaped Artie from the shock of the pain ripping into his arm. Myka's eyes went wild at the sight of his blood. Her breaths came in short, excited spurts. Artie gasped and grabbed her wrist holding the knife in him. A tug told him that he couldn't over power Myka with the knife and just made the pain worse. He looked into her eyes but didn't see any signs of his agent. His eyes flicked to his right.

Suddenly Artie grabbed Myka's right arm with his good left one. A little confused, she tried to pull away but the old agent held on tight. With his right hand, Artie hooked onto Myka's belt. Myka tried to free herself again, but Artie refused to let her go. He verbalized his resolution by stammering out "No, no!" as he fought her from slipping away.

Myka stopped struggling. She looked deep into Artie's brown eyes. She slowly started to twist the knife in his arm. Artie grunted and then screamed as the pain shot through him. Myka relished his agony. His face contorted as Artie whimpered against the pain and grunted out "hurry pete…"

Pete suddenly appeared behind Myka and stabbed her with the discarded syringe. He grabbed her left hand in an attempt to stop her twisting the knife in Artie. Myka screamed in surprise and rage and struggled to free herself. Artie and Pete both refused to let Myka go. Together they managed to restrain her long enough for Pete to depress the plunger. Myka raged fiercely and broke free of Artie's grasp. She elbowed Pete hard in the face, knocking him to the ground. She spun around to face Pete, ripping the knife from Artie who screamed, the pain driving him to one knee.

Red waves of angry energy emanated out in all directions from the knife. Myka wielded it and approached Pete who lay senseless on the floor.

Artie tried to stem the rapid flow of blood from his arm. He looked up and saw Myka stalking a helpless Pete.

"hey…" he said weakly. He tried to gather his strength. Taking a deep breath, Artie shouted at Myka. "_HEY!_ You want blood?" He held out his left hand colored red. "Is this what you want?"

Myka stopped. She slowly looked over her shoulder at Artie with a twisted smirk. "Yes." said a voice that wasn't hers. "Yes it is."

Myka turned to face Artie as the knife threw out energy waves that rippled the air. She started to walk towards her injured boss to finish him off.

Artie whispered, "Come on, come on…. _Work!_"

Just then Myka hesitated. Her evil grin faded into a look of confusion.

Hope sprung up in Artie. "Myka?" He used her name. "Myka! Fight it!" he encouraged.

Myka took another step and stopped, in turmoil. Streaks of clarity started to bleed through her angry wall of red. With a great effort, Myka opened her hand and dropped the knife.

Artie struggled to his feet and launched into action. He stumbled up to the knife and shoved Myka back. The knife continued to throw out angry energy waves.

Myka stumbled backwards. Her vision was getting clearer by the moment. She saw her boss over the knife.

"Artie?"

"**Stay back!**" he ordered.

Just then Pete groaned. Myka went to him.

Figuring that the knife was too strong for a standard bag, Artie fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a small vial of goo and opened its top. The knife was at its full power after contact with Myka. It threw out a particularly strong wave of energy that crashed over the three agents. Standing directly over the knife, Artie reeled. Anger leapt up within him from a thousand past frustrations. His breathing quickened and his jaw clenched as red rage started to cloud the edges of his vision.

With a huge force of will Artie shoved aside thoughts that he knew were effects of the knife. Fighting, he put everythign else behind the priority of contolling his own emotions and keeping his hand out. Unable to do more, he grunted with the effort required to hold his hand out and not give into to the urges of violence that were leaping up in his mind. Artie squinted as he concentrated on the vial of neutralizer he held up before him. Slowly, painfully, with great focus of will, Artie forced his hand to turn over. Purple neutralizer dripped and then poured over the knife. Myka and Pete looked away as sparks flew. Unable to move anymore, Artie's eyes burned from the bright lights, but his full concentration was on fighting the effects of the knife. He kept his hand out until all of the neutralizer was poured on the artifact.

The knife jumped and sparked but the waves of energy stopped, releasing the old agent. Artie gasped at the sudden release. The red faded from his vision and his thoughts cleared. He shook his head and grabbed at his temple but then he saw Myka helping Pete and refocused. Sparks from Bart's knife showed no signs of stopping so Artie dug in his outer pocket and pulled out a neutralizing bag.

The old agent clumsily went to one knee. He scooped up the knife into the bag, hindered by his injury. He clutched the bag to his chest with his hurt right arm, using his left to seal the bag. Only then did he breathe fully. His chest heaved as Artie caught his breath.

The senior agent slumped down to sit on the floor, leaning on his good arm. His breathing soon slowed to a manageable rate. Still clutching the bagged artifact, Artie looked at his agents. Myka was helping Pete to his feet. He was unsteady and bleeding from the corner of his mouth. She looked at Artie with fear and concern, but Pete broke into a big grin when he saw Artie clutching the bag.

"Yeah! Artie!" Pete cheered.

_Leave it to Pete_. Artie thought, but he was too exhausted to do anything but return Pete's boyish grin. Myka saw Artie smile and sighed in relief. She caught Artie's eye as he checked on her. She returned his smile.


	17. Wrap up

**Aw- last chapter! Thanks to everyone reading and especially all of those who have reviewed and pm'ed me.**

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><p>Artie sat in the living room of Leena's Bed and Breakfast relaxing and recovering after the mission when Pete came in Artie and checked out his bandaged arm. "Ooo- that's nasty…"<p>

Artie looked over his shoulder at Pete and agreed. "Yeah."

Not to be outdone Pete flopped in a chair and said, "Yeah- well she laid me out flat! Bam!" he threw a fist in the air. "Oh- that was _after_ she tesla-ed me!"

"Teslas are perfectly safe…" Artie tried to downplay Pete's over exaggeration.

"Safe? Tell that to my aching head!" he countered and rubbed his sore jaw right where a bruise was forming that was precisely the size of Myka's elbow.

Artie said, "That's not from the tesla." He rubbed his own sore jaw.

Just then Myka walked in with a tray of lunch for Pete and Artie.

"Here we go! Lunch is served!" Myka said with a smile. She set the tray down on the coffee table and sat at the opposite end of the couch from Artie. "Complete with cookies!"

"Awesome!" Pete energetically grabbed half a tuna fish salad sandwich from the tray.

Artie looked at Myka and smiled as he said, "We're not crippled you know. You don't have to do all of this."

Pete frowned at Artie. "Speak for yourself! I plan to milk this situation for weeks!" he said through a half full mouth. "Months!" Pete grinned at Myka and poked her in jest. Myka smiled in spite of herself, but hung her head just a little.

"Hey!" he said, "You guys want a drink? Milk for the cookies?" Myka shook her head but Artie looked up at the mention of milk. "Milk it is." Pete left for the kitchen.

Artie noticed that Myka wasn't making eye contact with him. In an effort to make her feel more comfortable he looked straight ahead too.

"Um. How's the arm?" she asked.

"Oh- fine." he lied. "Or it will be fine."

Myka nodded, still looking ahead. There was an awkward pause. Artie had enough. "Hey." He looked pointedly at Myka, but he softened when he saw the guilt in her face. "Listen. What happened…. Sometimes artifacts get the upper hand. It's part of the job. If it wasn't you, it would have been Pete. Wasn't your fault."

Myka wasn't convinced. "How can you be so sure?" she asked.

"Because I saw you. I _looked_ at you when you did this…" he gestured to his bandaged right arm. He softened his tone. "-and I didn't see you. I saw the artifact. You're not responsible."

Myka nodded sadly. Her head was convinced but her heart wasn't so sure. "But it was me." She took a deep breath and said, "I just want you to know that… for whatever it's worth…" She forced herself to look Artie in the eye. "I'm sorry."

"Myka." He said softly. "This wasn't you. I _**know**_ that." He tilted his head to follow her downcast eyes. "Even if you don't." he said pointedly.

Myka nodded a little more convinced. She made an effort and managed a half smile. "Yeah… I um- did notice your goo vial!" She shot him a suspicious sideways look.

Artie knew he was busted. He blushed and stammered as he said, "Oh! Heh… it- it was useful! And a good idea!"

Myka beamed and nodded. Artie added, "Just a little bit to carry for emergencies…."

"Exactly!" Myka said excitedly.

Pete came in with ice water and cold milk. "Pete! Remember how I was talking about how bulky the goo container is?"

The rest of the afternoon passed with the two agents tweaking their equipment with their boss.


End file.
